Mounting for guns carried by aeroplanes and similar aircraft.



G. H. CHALLENGER. moumms FOR sums CARRIED BY AEROPLANES AND SIMILAR AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6. Hill Patented Apr. 1,1929.

GEORGE HENRY CHALLENGER, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOB TO VICKEBS LIMITED, OF WESTMINSTER, ENGLAND.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr, 1, 1919.

Application filed. July 6, 1917. Serial no. 179,073.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE HENRY CHAL- LENGER, a subject of the King "of Great Britain, residing at Vickers House, Broad,- way, Westminster, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Mountings for Guns Carried by Aeroplanes and Similar Aircraft, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mountings for guns carried by aeroplanes and similar aircraft.

When the aeroplane carrying the gun is in motion and the gun is being elevated while pointing ahead, the pressure of the air on the gun will have an appreciable effect on the ease with which the gun can be elevated and depressed. Thus if the gun be elevated, starting from a horizontal position, the pressure of the air will exert on the gun a gradually increasing turning moment tending to further elevate the gun. Dur ing the first portion of the elevation this turning moment is opposed by the turning moment due to the weight of the gun tending to depress it about its horizontal pivot. The latter turning moment is greater than the first mentioned turning moment until a certain, angle of elevation is reached at which point the two moments are balanced.

If, however, the gun is elevated past this point the turning moment due to the pres sure of the air will be greater than the other turning moment. This condition of affairs militates against efiective operation of the gun and to overcome the difiiculties arising therefrom we, according to the present invent-ion, provide a spring device which is of such a character that it will give a graduated assistance to the elevating movement of the gun until the aforesaid point in elevation is reached, at which time the spring device will no longer exert a turning moment upon the gun; when. however, the gun is elevated beyond this point the spring device will exert a graduated opposition to the elevating movement. in other words the spring device exerts upon thegun in elevation and depression a turning moment opposite and equal or approximately equal to the resultant of the turning moments due to the weight of the gun and the pressure of the air and the gun is thus approximately balanced at all angles of elevation when pointing ahead or approximately ahead.

When the gun is being trainedfrom its ahead position the pressure of the air on the gun Wlll exert a training turning moment and this turning moment will reach its'maximum when the gun is in a position at right angles to the line of fiight of the aeroplane and is horizontal. In order to. balance this turning moment and thus facilitate the training of the gun we provide a spring device which is so constructed as to balance or approximately balance this turning moment in training when the gun is more or less horizontal; the turning moment exerted by this spring device gradually increases during the training of the gun in either direction from its ahead position and reaches the maximum when the gun is pointing at right angles to the line of flight of the aeroplane.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect the same will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a side elevation and a plan of an aeroplane gun mounting showing diagrammatically an advantageous form of the aforesaid spring balancing devices, and V Fig. 3 is a view showing a modified form of the spring balancing device. r

A is a fus lage of the aeroplane and k is the gun. The gun is carried by arm a, a; which are-pivoted at a, a to a ring a rotatably mounted at the upper end of a wall or chamber A in the manner described in the specification of our earlier application for British Patent No. 9389 of 1915. The ring and the arms are shown in different positions in the two figures of the drawing.

One of the arms a, a is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 provided with an extension a con neoted to a cord or chain A which passes between two pulleys of, a carried by a bracket A attached to the ring a, the said cord or chain being connected to a helical tension spring A attached to the said ring. In the position of the gun as shown in Fig. 1 the turning moment about the pivots a, a due to the weight of the gun is supposed to arms.

pre-ponderatc over the turning moment due to the air pressure and the spring A is exerting upon the arms a. turningmoment to balance the gun, the cord or chain A at this time bearing against the pulley a As the gun is farther elevated this balancing turning moment becomes smaller until when the point of attachment of the cord or chain A to the extension a lies in a plane passing between the pulleys a", (14* and containing the axis of: the pivots a, a the spring will no longer exert any turning moment upon the This represents the position at Which the two turning moments due to the air pressure and the weight of the gun are balanced. If the gun be elevated beyond this point the cord or chain A will pass into contact with the other pulley a and the spring A will in consequence exert upon the arms a, a, a balancing turning moment in opposition to the turning moment due to the preponderating air pressure, this balancing turning momentincreasing with the angle of elevation of the gun.

To a bracket 25* on the ring a is attached one end of a cord or chain B which passes between two pulleys b, 7) and over a third pulley 5 .2111 situated on the fuselage and this cord or chain is connected to helical tension s rino- 13 attached to the fusela e.

In Fig. 2 the gun is shown as having been trained to the right of the center line oi the fuselage and the spring B is at this time exerting upon the ring (6 in opposition to the turning moment due to air pressure, a

balancing turning moment which reaches the and the other and connected to a movable casing attached to the cord or chain A. Similarly the spring- B may be replaced by a clock spring one end of which is connected to the fuselage, the other end to a movable casing. attached to the cord or chain B.

It is preferred however to employ the arrangement shown in Fig. 3 1n whlch C is the clock spring connected at one end at C; to arotatable casing Cland' anchored at the other end to a part C". In the example shownthe spring is intended 'to take the place of the spring N" and the parts Aha", a, a (if-Figs. 1 and 2 and is arranged concentric with the pivots a. .a. The casing C' is connected to one of the arms a, a and is rotatably mounted upon a spigot on the trainin ring (c -and the part C is connected to or forms part of the said training ring. One such spring device is preferably used for each arm. In this figure the arm 0; is assumed to be in the neutral position in which the turning moments due to the weight of the gun and the pressure of the air are balanced as aforesaid and in this condition of afl'airs the spring C is delinergized and consequently does not exert any turning moment upon the arm a. arm be elevated beyond this neutral position thepoint- C will move in a clockwise direction and the spring will be energized to exert a balancing turning moment in no position to the turning moment due to the preponderating air pressure, while if the arm be depressed from. the neutral. position the point C will move in an anticlockwise direction and the spring will be energized to exert a balancing turmng moment in opposition to the turning moment due to the preponderating weight of the gun. A similar arrangen'ient of spring device may also be used for balancing the training turning mo ment of the gun, the casing being angularly displaced in synchronism with the training movement of the gun. In this case the spring will be in its deenergized or neutral position when the gun is pointing ahead and the spring will be energized by displacement of the movable end of the spring in reverse directions when the gun is trained to the right and to the left of its ahead position.

' It is to be understc i that instead of helical tension springs or clock springs we may use other springs. We may, for example use india. rubber cords or strands.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a. mounting for a gun carried by an aircraft, means for exerting upon the gun in elevation and depression a turning moment opposite and substantially equal to the resultant of the'turning moments clue to the weight of the gun and the pressure of the air.

2. In a. mountingv for a gun carr ed by an aircraft, a spring device tor exerting upon the gun in elevation and depression a turn inc; inomcnt opposite and substantially equal to the resultant of the turning moments due If the to the weight of the gun and the pressure -of the air.

trainin turning moment opposite and substantially equal to the training turning moment due to the pressure of the air.

5. In a. mounting for a gun carried by an aircraft, a sprin device for exerting upon the gun'a trainlng turning moment opposite, and substantially equal to the training turning moment due to the pressure of the air.

6. In a mounting for a gun carried by an aircraft, the combination with a ring which is rotatably mounted on the aircraft and which carries the gun, of a spring device for exerting upon the gun a training turning moment opposite and substantially equal to the training turning moment due to the pressure of the air.

7. An aircraft gun mounting provided with trainin balancing means comprising -a crank member, a spring connected to mid crank member, and means for driving said member to move in synchronism with the training of the gun whereby the spring exerts upon the gun, through the crank, a turning moment opposite and equal or substantially equal to that exerted upon the gun by the air.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE HENRY CHALLENGER. 

